This invention is directed to a system and method for mobile printing. More particularly, this invention is directed to a system and method for accessing an electronic file via a mobile device for printing at a remote image generating device.
Typically, users routinely work with documents or other data while away from their office environment. Such users need to generate image data, by printing a document, and then need to distribute or perform other functions on such image data. Frequently, the only equipment the user has is a handheld device, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), or combination PDA/cellular telephone. These handheld devices are capable of storing and editing documents, receiving and sending electronic mail, sending and receiving voice communications, and storing/viewing images. However, such handheld devices, generally have limited storage and processing power, making storing large documents inefficient. In addition, having a full printer driver installed on the device is impractical, requiring capacious amounts of memory and processing power.
Previous attempts to address the limitations of the handheld device/printing have been made. For example, methods to include small printer drivers on the handheld have been implemented to enable the handheld device to print locally stored documents. However, this method requires the file to be printed be stored locally, limiting the number and size of the files available. Another example is the transmission to a printer of a URL reference of a file. However, this requires that each individual file be provided with a distinct URL reference, as well as the user having access to the web site hosting the URL files. Yet another attempt to use handheld devices for mobile printing involved the attachment of documents to electronic mail, forwarded directly to a printer for printing. The limitation of this approach is the requirement that the handheld device already have received the electronic mail.
Thus, there is a need for a user to use a handheld device to remotely access desktop files and have the files printed by a mobile printing service.